By
Kaylie Clendenon
San Clemente High School
10th Grade

Sometimes keeping a secret causes much more harm than good. When we are put in a situation where this is true, helping whatever it is to continue by keeping the secret is wrong. When someone asks you to keep a secret that is dangerous or frightening, it is okay to tell, because you can help by telling a responsible adult before the secret causes any more damage than it already has.

Once when I was six, I went to my friend Stephanie's* house for a play date, but stumbled into a nightmare. Her aunt was taking care of us because Stephanie's parents were working. We were just playing around the backyard lake any other six year old girls would, when, suddenly, her aunt told us to come inside. When we went in, Stephanie's uncle was there, and he and her aunt said that we were going to play a game.

We went into the living room and sat down, and the uncle sat down with us. He tried to touch me in a way that I didn't like and saw that I was upset. To ease my worries, he demonstrated by touching Stephanie and told me that it was okay, Just a game played all the time. Stephanie was used to it and reassured me. Being six years old, I obeyed him because he was an adult, but I still felt strangely about it. Stephanie's aunt was in the room through all of this and soon brought a pornographic magazine over and showed us the contents, page by page. The uncle continued to do more inappropriate things to us for a while, then they yelled at me and told me that it was my fault they did those things to me, that I had been a bad girl, and that they would kill my dog if I told anyone about it. Stephanie also begged me not to tell. I was traumatized.

Afterward, my mom picked me up and took me to the movies to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She know nothing about what had happened at Stephanie's house and I didn't want to tell her because I didn't want my dog to die or for her to be angry with me for doing such naughty things. She led me into the theater, but I refused to go into the room where the movie was playing. I felt nauseous and like I didn't deserve to see it. I curled into a ball and said my stomach hurt really badly. My mother didn't know what to do so she kept asking me what was wrong. I told her that I had something bad to tell her, but that I couldn't because I promised. My parents kept asking me, and for about six months I didn't tell anyone. My parents had a good idea of what happened though, because of the little questions I asked them sometimes-questions about things a six-year-old shouldn't know anything about.

Finally, after my dog died, I told my parents what happened. Through all the time that I didn't tell, "the game" continued for Stephanie. Though I never went back to their house, I knew it hadn't stopped and I worry that they might have started on her little sister during that time. I went to counselors and my parents took the aunt and uncle to court. We lost against them because Stephanie's mom was a lawyer and she protected them. I know Stephanie's mom knew it was true and I pray that she stopped it even though she kept her brother and sister out of jail. It is most likely that Stephanie was scarred for life by her uncle and aunt's "games," but I hope she will be alright.

Though it is sometimes painful and scary to tell a secret, if the secret is dangerous or frightening, you need to tell a trustworthy adult, for others' safety, and sometimes your own. I couldn't tell until the threat on my dog was broken by his death, but I was an impressionable child and waited far too long to expose the disgusting truth. If I had told earlier, things may have turned out differently, I don't know. All I know is that if I hadn't told, I would still feel sick and angry today, but I don't because I've done all I can for Stephanie. Even a six-year-old can try to make a difference by telling an adult. I told, would you?